Hundreds of thousands will surely flock to London's West End to see the magical play

It’s admirable that J.K Rowling hasn’t tried to elongate the Harry Potter series with another book or two; something she could so easily have done and probably made a sweet penny from, too. But that doesn’t mean Potter is dead – far from it.

J.K Rowling is set to produce on the West End play

The plucky magician will find his feet once more in a Harry Potter West End show, as a prequel story documenting the young life of Potter as an orphan, before he is adopted by the Dursley family. While Rowling won’t write the play, she is collaborating with a playwright and will serve as co-producer alongside London and New York producing pair, Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender.

Rowling revealed that she had been approached numerous times to take Potter to the stage, according to The Mail.

“[It] was the only one that really made sense to me, and which had the sensitivity, intensity and intimacy I thought appropriate for bringing Harry’s story to the stage,” she said. “After a year in gestation, it is very exciting to see this project moving onto the next stage.”

The move will no doubt be popular; the books have sold more than 450 million copies since the first was released, and the 8-film series adapted from them has grossed over $8 billion in the global box office.

In September, it was announced Jk Rowling will write a new Harry Potter-inspired film series based on Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Rowling said at the time: “Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards, where I was so happy for 17 years, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world.”

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone - the book that kicked it all off